difficult to focus on their day-to-day work, which can lead to poor ... greater ambiguity in day-to-day working life ... might be tough work deadlines, ambiguity and ...
20
www.efmd.org/globalfocus
COPING WITH COMPLEXITY Personal resilience is an increasingly necessary tool to face the stress of a complex work environment. Fiona Dent and Viki Holton describe what it is and how to attain it
Coping with Complexity by Fiona Dent and Viki Holton
O
rganisational life today demands more from individuals and is far more complex than in previous decades. While modern (and indeed historical) business life has always been complex, the speed of change and levels of uncertainty caused by the current general economic malaise and global competitiveness has made managers’ lives increasingly demanding.
For example, major restructuring within organisations will undoubtedly create uncertainty. Some people who have a more optimistic disposition will weather the storm and see this as an opportunity. They are behaving in a resilient way. Others will tend to worry and find it difficult to focus on their day-to-day work, which can lead to poor performance, stress, illness and depression.
This is evident from our findings in the recent survey by Ashridge Business School – The Ashridge Management Index 2012/2013. The key issues identified are: • increased pressure and stress on individuals •g reater use of technology leading to a 24/7 business culture reater ambiguity in day-to-day •g working life •c hange as a constant rather than occasional process
Successful organisations have recognised that it is possible to help people to raise their awareness in this area, change their behaviour and develop successful personal coping strategies.
This has led to an increased interest in understanding how managers cope with stress while also continuing to perform at their best. The findings suggest that having good levels of personal resilience is an important factor in effective performance. This article explores what resilience means, the characteristics of resilient people and how organisations and business schools can support people to develop their resilience, which in turn will lead to a more effective and successful business environment.
42%
42% of respondents (1,100 +) to the most recent Ashridge Management Index indicated that they find it difficult to unwind after work 93% paradoxically said that they felt able to cope with current pressures and stress
EFMD Global Focus: Volume 07 Issue 03 | 2013
What is resilience? Resilience is a process that takes place between an individual and a situation and which leads to an outcome. It is the relationship between the way a person thinks about a situation, feels about it and reacts to it. People who are more resilient when faced with challenging situations that affect their equilibrium tend to have developed helpful personal coping strategies. Typical challenging situations might be tough work deadlines, ambiguity and change, resource cuts, personal trials and other situations beyond an individuals’ control.
21
So, in summary, personal resilience is the ability to focus and remain productive during challenging times, to remain optimistic and to “bounce back” after setbacks. In the recent Ashridge Management Index we identified a number of pressure points that affect managers’ ability to cope. They include: • working longer than 48 hours each week • heavy workloads and tight deadlines • regularly taking work home • information overload • the impact of constant (and complex) change • the growth and implications of virtual team working • lack of investment in team development It is unsurprising, then, that while 42% of respondents (1,100 +) indicated that they find it difficult to unwind after work, 93% paradoxically said that they felt able to cope with current pressures and stress.
People who are more resilient when faced with challenging situations that affect their equilibrium tend to have developed helpful personal coping strategies
22
www.efmd.org/globalfocus
The resilient manager Based on our research and experience of working with many managers in executive education together with more focused research into resilience by our colleague Alex Davda, we believe the following model illustrates seven key characteristics of a resilient individual. Some of these characteristics are intrinsic abilities but all of them can be developed with the right kind of support and guidance. Here is a brief description of each of the characteristics in Figure 1:
TABLE 1: VIRTUAL WORKING
2004 2008 2010 2012/13
Increasingly I am required to manage people in virtual teams
67%
82%
83%
77%
My organisation provides sufficient support for virtual teams
61%
46%
43%
45%
FIGURE 1: SEVEN KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF A RESILIENT INDIVIDUAL
• Emotional control is a person’s capability to understand and manage emotions in an appropriate way. Controlling and using feelings and emotions helps manage challenging situations effectively • Positive self-regard is having belief in oneself by understanding personal values, strengths, capabilities and accomplishments. We find that managers with this quality have a tendency to be more resilient • Sense of purpose is understanding what and who is important to the person. It is about having a sense of meaning in life • Solution focus orientation is about being active, future-focused and seeking outcomes rather than concentrating on problems and the past • Sense of well-being and balance is very personal. Health is one aspect of well-being and is often taken for granted. However, the key here is for individuals to identify how they maintain balance, health and energy to sustain performance in their business life • Support networks from all areas of a person’s life. We all need support from others when faced with adversity and crises. Resilient managers know who these people are and develop mutually supportive relationships
EMOTIONAL CONTROL REFLECTION AND PERSPECTIVE
POSITIVE SELFREGARD
SUPPORT NETWORKS
SENSE OF WELL-BEING AND BALANCE
SENSE OF PURPOSE
RESILIENCE
SOLUTION FOCUS ORIENTATION
TABLE 2 PERSONAL RESILIENCE INVENTORY Question Yes To No Personal Examples some /Coping Strategies extent 1. I understand and manage my emotions and feelings 2. I have a clear understanding of my own capabilities (strengths and accomplishments) 3. I have clear goals and meaning in my life 4. I deal well with stress and pressure 5. I like to focus on solutions not problems 6. I have a good work life balance 7. I have a good personal support network in place 8. I take time to reflect and put things into perspective
• Reflection and perspective is having the ability to appreciate what it is that triggers feelings of pressure, stress or challenge. Many managers fail to take time to reflect. Taking a step back enables a manager to gain perspective and to deal with pressure and stress more positively
Total
All of these characteristics are important for developing resilient managers and it is the interaction between them that is also important as this will help with the creation and development of coping strategies.
Our questions are: at what personal and organisational cost are people “coping”? And for how long can people work under constant pressure?
(It is worth pointing out that our respondents are at middle and senior levels and we would suggest that younger less experienced people are likely to feel even more pressurised and stressed.)
Table 1 summarises the results in relation to virtual working over an eight-year period and highlights that virtual working is a major feature for many managers and that more organisational support is required.
Coping with Complexity by Fiona Dent and Viki Holton
Taking action Organisations and business schools should play a more active role in helping managers develop their levels of resilience. As a first step it is worth ensuring that individuals have some understanding of their own levels of resilience and current range of coping strategies. The short inventory on the previous page will act as a starter to help managers to assess their own resilience levels and can also be used to assess those of their team or teams (see Table 2). A more sophisticated inventory is available from the Ashridge Business School website www. ashridge.org.uk available by searching for the Ashridge Resilience Questionnaire. Put simply, the more positive answers and coping strategies identified then the more likely a person is to be resilient. The value in using a simple exercise like this is that it raises self-awareness and encourages a broader conversation. Other areas where both organisations and business schools could make a difference include: • Leadership programmes – ensuring that resilience is an integral part of any leadership development process or intervention. Arming individuals with knowledge, awareness and a practical toolkit will assist them to develop the necessary strategies for coping and thriving in today’s demanding working environment. • Support mechanisms – our research shows that providing managers with the opportunity to leverage support within their organisation is beneficial. For example: – Encouraging and facilitating alumni networks from any development programme – Creating an action learning culture where people are encouraged to network across boundaries (professional, departmental and national) – Coaching, mentoring and counselling can all contribute and many organisations still have work to do to make such opportunities more widely available. Business schools could help here by offering training in these skills. – Enabling and supporting all levels of staff to take responsibility for resilience initiatives in their own part of the business.
EFMD Global Focus: Volume 07 Issue 03 | 2013
23
THE ASHRIDGE SURVEY ASKED MANAGERS TO SUGGEST ADVICE FOR YOUNGER MANAGERS. HERE ARE TWO OF THEIR RESPONSES:
Never make a decision when stressed and tired! If you've had a bad day or hear something you don't like always give yourself time to relax and digest it rationally before taking action. The more driven and passionate about the business and your role you are, the more this advice applies!"
"Find out what helps you to manage your stress levels and make time for it – exercise, yoga, socialising – whatever it is; that's just as important as any time management techniques you can do within your 9-5 schedule."
• Virtual working – this is becoming increasingly common and our research shows that organisational support does not meet the needs of the managers. (See Table 1) Managing teams and colleagues effectively and efficiently in this new virtual world requires new and different skills. Providing specialist workshops and development sessions for both the manager and the team would undoubtedly help support virtual working processes. One simple example is the protocol for running virtual discussions. Helping people to understand that with the greater reliance on aural senses this means that virtual meeting skills must focus on the use of more precise language, the importance of questioning, active listening and clarification. One major contributor to greater success with virtual working, which was suggested by many people in our survey was that people should meet face to face on occasions. Having this more intimate knowledge of someone you work with virtually, even if it is only a one-off meeting, will mean that both parties have a closer connection. Resilience is a key challenge for many individuals. Organisations as well as business schools must invest more time and energy to help managers and staff develop their understanding and awareness. Resilience may be intangible and hard to measure but the impact of having a resilient workforce can help contribute to the bottom line.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Fiona Dent and Viki Holton are respectively Director of Executive Education and Research Fellow at Ashridge Business School.
REFERENCES
The Ashridge Management Index 2012/13 by Fiona Dent, Jan Rabbetts and Viki Holton The Ashridge Resilience Questionnaire – Alex Davda, Ashridge Business School
